What was I thinking?

It's been busy around here of late!  While at Orschelns for welded wire I found myself drawn by the sound of new chicks - and they had Ameraucanas!  So my little flock of two has grown.  So glad I bought extra chicken nipples Poultry Nipple Waterers- I have several more to make up.  And the plans for the coop will have had to be expanded!  But not yet!  The windows are currently doing duty in the yard as a cold frame.  And then there's the rabbit cages.

There are projects in every room, some for spring - some left over from winter.  I have a new desk courtesy of E.M. and just finished assembling it in time to get a call that the rabbits are ready to be picked up.  The dining room table is covered with seed pots - just saw my first tomato plant peek up out of the soil.  The outdoor plants that have been overwintering in the windows are all spruced up and ready to start hardening off.  Once everything is out I can get to the mending I've acquired - the sewing machine has been hidden under plants.  The chicks are still in the bathroom - it's the only room I can keep warm enough for them - with the added benefit of linoleum flooring.  I've been trying my hand at sprouting and fermenting.  The lentils were a great success, and yesterday I started fenugreek seeds and mung beans.  I finished one jar of sauerkraut - just cabbage.  I went so well I've going to try beets, red cabbage, and caraway seeds added to the green cabbage next.

Potatoes are in, the bed for the peas is almost ready, the roses are pruned, and all the peonies made it through their travels last year and the shoots are already an inch tall.  Another week and I'll need to do the first mowing.   Most of the milk carton hanging pots I made up last year have survived the winter - so I'm ready for when it's time to plant cucumbers.  I'm only going to put one plant in each this year though.  Now that the "expired" tree is gone, the raised beds have been moved to run along the fence - I thought I grew enough tomatoes last year - but I need to expand that area.   I find I just won't "thin" a growing plant, and three plants per gallon is too much.  By mid-summer there will be a wall of tomato plants between myself and the neighbors!  There's the left over wood from all the wild honeysuckle and volunteer trees we cut down last fall.  The small branches went with the fall cleanup - but the trunk pieces are still here.  Then there's the sill plate in the window we found damaged from termites when we pulled out the a/c unit this winter.  I need to fix it so the a/c can go back in - it's taking up too much space in the garage!  Then there are those two bucket seats from the van in there that need a new home...

Funny, I told everybody I wasn't going to garden this year.  Oh well!  Another cup of tea and back to work :-)

After yet another cold snap last week - polar vortex is the term they're throwing around this time - the hens were inside again.  This time it was the bathtub for a couple of nights, don't have a laundry room now.  It was a much quieter event this time, no eggs to chase, but it reminded me how long it's been since I shared anything on this blog.  Or cleaned up after chickens in the house...

My life changed quite a bit over the last few years, faster than I could keep up at times. Spring is on the way in many respects, and I thought I'd share some of the exciting things coming up.  When I was younger, much, I stumbled on a magazine that I grew to love. It was Organic Gardening from Rodale Press, and I faithfully subscribed to it for over 15 years.  I saved every copy, and moved the collection along from Los Angeles to Winnipeg to Missouri.  I bequeathed that collection finally to a fellow devotee in Kansas just before I headed off to college for my adventures in graduate studies at Iowa State.

Over the years those pages inspired us to raise chickens, start a small meat rabbit business, create countless gardens, test composting designs, and even a brief and lively round with goats. However, the most lasting impression comes from a book they offered when I signed up - Five Acres and Independence: The Practical Guide to Selecting and Managing a Small Farm by Maurice Grenville Kains.  (It's available thru Amazon for $12.29, still around after all these years!)

Then life got busy, as life should, and the book sat on the shelf.  As life and its demands have changed, the book is calling again. I can't actually run out and buy five acres right away, but the ideas of building in self- sufficiency and living closer to what I eat still charm me.  Because I live in town and rent, the things I do must be pleasant to look at (and smell) as well as mobile.  Compost lives in aerated garbage pails. The bulk of my plants are in containers, interspersed with flowers (edible of course).  And the "ladies" coop must of course be a tractor style - for numerous reasons.  I only have a front yard - the house I rent has been split into two apartments - downstairs and upstairs.  The yard gets FULL sun most of the day, so I need to be able to move them to shadier spots.

Oh. Note to self: if you install a rain barrel, make sure it is already plumbed before you set it right side up.  They are really heavy once they are full.

Next month, the rabbits are back.  (Well, yes, the ones outside were here all along.  Chasing them out of the yard is Keifer's favorite sport.)  I mean, the rabbit farm is back...   More soon on the intricacies of homes for rabbits.

Wascally wabbits....  http://youtu.be/60kC9WUne08

Who is Keifer?  My service dog.  I did say there have been a LOT of changes...